6. Dennis McKinley - How to Make Your Vision a Reality

Do you have the foresight to see something before it happens or to find the diamond in the rough?  Do you have a vision for your franchise expansion?

Today's guest, Dennis McKinley, shares with us his vision and successes on how he became a millionaire in college and how he has built his investment empire.  He owns several franchise brands and has been and sold several others.  He shares with us his misses, makes, and multipliers and what success means to him.

McKinley also shares that he is actively looking to partner with, invest in, or acquire micro franchise brands with 1 to 5 units.

If you are a small franchise company with 1 to 5 franchises, please contact McKinley through his website: www.DetroitEquities.com.

If you are looking for a franchise coach or you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no obligation, franchise consultation by visiting: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/.

Transcript

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 0:03

You've worked hard to build your business. And now it's time to grow. Welcome to the multiply your success podcast. I'm your host, Tom DuFore CEO of big sky franchise team and a serial entrepreneur. Join me each week. As I interview leading entrepreneurs, executives and experts who share their misses makes and multipliers. If you are a growth minded entrepreneur investor or franchise company, then this podcast is for you. If there's one thing I've learned in business and in life it's that you can always learn something new to make things better. Our purpose for this podcast is for you to glean some wisdom and practical ideas to implement on your expansion journey. We look forward to being your guide to multiply your success. Welcome, and thank you for tuning in to the next great edition of the multiply your success podcast. And to open up the episode today, I'd like to ask you a question. What does vision mean to you as an owner, as an entrepreneur, as the leader of your organization, what does vision mean to you really mean? And when's the last time you really looked at your vision. When's the last time you were looking around and really digging deep into it? Chances are it hasn't been for a while and the chances are that the global pandemic we've been in and the other fires that come up in your business tend to get in the way your daily routine and just life is maybe getting in the way of that. Well, today's guest has had vision literally since he was a teenager making his first million dollars while he was a college student. Pretty incredible. I know that's not something that I was up to when I was in college. So, uh, today's guest talks about investing growing. And if you are a business, that's franchising, a company that we're working with or wants to franchise your business, by the way, if you're looking to franchise your business, give my company big sky franchise team, a call will, we'll be able to help you out with that. And when we're done with you and going through that process, today's guest is ready to invest within you and help you multiply your franchise companies. So if you're at that stage or close to it, you do not want to miss this one. And so without further ado, here's my interview with Dennis McKinley.

Dennis McKinley - Detroit Equities: 2:33

My name is Dennis McKinley, um, you know, based and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. And the reason why I just tell people that I'm, I'm born and raised in Detroit, as, you know, if anybody is familiar with Detroit or the Midwest, they know we, you know, we work very hard and a lot of the businesses that I'm involved with are represented our representation of, uh, you know, some of Detroit's called. So I like to just kind of throw that out there to begin with, um, you know, I own a company called Detroit equities. We invest in, um, you know, small startups, you know, normally, um, you know, one, two to five man operations. They may have, you know, one to three units where there's retail or restaurant, or it could be, you know, a service based business or idea. Um, we are slowly invested in, uh, tech opportunities as well. Uh, I mean, during Kobe, if you're not doing anything tech, then you're doing something wrong. So we're, you know, making our way, get our feet wet, you know, um, in that area as well. So we'd like to try to find diamonds in the rough early, you know, you're a five or 10 units, you're probably way ahead of the game and maybe too large for me to, uh, acquire or to acquire or invest in. So look, if you're out there, you have a great business or idea, and you're small. You need a little kickstart, you may be the right partner for you.

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 4:06

Well then, well, McKinnon McKinley, that sounds amazing. And I can tell you that the audience that's tuning in, um, most of the folks that are listening fit right in that sweet spot that you're talking about. So, um, it's so hopefully people are pulling over and parking while their heart is racing right now. Uh, so, uh, we'll make sure we get all of your contact information and how they can get to your website and share it. We'll make sure that's in the show notes, let's start with, uh, I'd love to hear your story about, um, you know, starting in Detroit, you're here in Atlanta now, you're, you're involved in restaurants and bars and all different kinds of things going on. So take us back to Detroit, uh, where it started there and how'd you end up in Atlanta?

Dennis McKinley - Detroit Equities: 4:52

Yeah, sure. Tom. So, you know, first of all, I made my first million dollars just flipping real estate. This was when real estate was pretty, uh, pretty popular. You know, I started off living in a few houses. Then I went to apartment buildings and I did that all through college. And I went to university of Michigan paying my way through school, flipping houses. And, um, I sold that business and I said, man, I don't, I don't know what I'm going to do next. So, uh, moved to Chicago and moved to New York and I moved to LA and I started, uh, you know, producing films and music videos. That was okay. Business book, uh, you know, my girlfriend at the time she wanted some, a hair extension saying, I didn't know anything about her stations, but she took me to this place and, uh, line was out the door. I said, man, it's pretty interesting. So I did some research and talked to a few buddies when I landed in Atlanta somehow. And I started, you know, queen Birger or Remi we, uh, at the time, um, I was just selling hair out of my truck cause I didn't really understand that market, but I grew it to 17 locations. I sold that business to the largest hair, made pressure in the world out of China. So that was my second exit at that point, multimillion dollar exit at that point, um, from there then I just said, listen, I'm worth big lot of opportunity there. And uh, I said, let me learn, uh, some other businesses. And that took me literally around the world or across the country. Um, I love the few things out here, but you know, during my time from Detroit to Atlanta, I've owned several franchises so way and little Caesars and franchising was always interesting because I learned quickly franchise or as the one who's really making the money, the franchisee right. Does the work. So I said, man, if I ever get to another place in business where I'm, I could help other entrepreneurs get a leg up when a franchise or I'll start that business. In 2015, I bought the original hot dog factory. Um, you know, being from Detroit, we eat Coney dogs every day. And uh, you know, my travels across this country, I noticed that every city that you were in, like they have their own way of eating hot dogs, right? Chicago has a Chicago dog. Carolina has a criminal slaw dog. I said, man, this would be a cool idea. If I could just take the regional favorites, just put them under one roof. In 2015, I remixed it sort of say, and I brought all the hot, goes into one roof. People were driving. I'm like hours, a man that come to the hide off after I said, man, this would probably be a good business, a franchise. And um, I took it like two years and just really study franchising today. You know how the factory, we have a 50 commitments today. We have, you know, we'll have 15 stores open in the next, you know, 45 to 60 days. And um, we just acquired a ton of other businesses. Um, you know, over the course of the last five years, uh, Google party buses, one, we have a meal prep company called healthy James. Uh, you know, you go to our website, you'll see our portfolio, but then we just bought a ton of businesses, great opportunities where entrepreneurs are just don't leave one or two men, you know, teams that they want a franchise agreements replicatable but they don't have a team, the capital to the backroom. So, you know, we just increased our portfolio over the last 36 months. And um, you know, we become just, you know, masters or franchise.

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 8:34

Well, I love it McKinley cause I, I mean, I remember, um, you know, looking at your website, like you said, just even a year ago and the number of brands that, I mean literally if multiplied on there, uh, you guys are obviously moving and doing things and making it happen. And uh, you know, I, I definitely resonate with, uh, being a fellow Midwesterner. Um, my, uh, roots are back in Chicago, I'm originally from, from the Chicago area. So, um, I definitely resonate with that there. And uh, in, in, in, you know, as part of our show here, we, we talk about misses makes and multipliers. And so, uh, you know, I, I, it's always fun. And as, as a, as a listener of all kinds of talk radio and podcasts and so on, you always hear the good stuff, but w would you mind sharing what the listeners, maybe a, maybe a miss that you had along the way and something you learned from it?

Dennis McKinley - Detroit Equities: 9:31

Listen, um, do I tell him, do I, I'm sorry about the time do I have to listen? You know, you probably got to have some misses in it too. You know, I just had my fourth exit. Um, you know, a few months ago we built Caroline Carolina hip company, which was just a one man operation one store operation at Asheville, North Carolina. And we took that to 10, 10 locations open, uh, 30 something for our Johns is committed to, and we made a multimillion dollar deal too, but I'll tell you what, for every exit that I had or have after three, four misses. And this is just a combination of things, we're really, it comes down to the founding team. You know, when you looking for a partner like you cannot work the founder, you can't know more than a founder. You know, what I bring to the table is, um, you know, bring capital to the table or bring motivation to the table I bring to the table. Right. But when I meet her, um, a founder, like if I know more about his business and they do, or I'm more passionate about their business than they are, then that's probably a recipe for disaster and listen, every one of these acquisitions I do for, you know, I learned something from, so I don't really take it out the loss. Um, but that's very important. So, you know, um, ton of opportunity here, a lot of money to be made, but you gotta really be careful. So look, I know you're also an expert in franchising. You could talk to you for three hours about some of them, some of the misses I had, but, um, you know, look, uh, I don't really call them lessons. They're there. I mean, I don't really call them misses. I mean, at the end of the day we learned something and, um, you know, you, you, you benefit from your next acquisition.

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 11:25

Well, that's great. I love that response and you're right. Every, every situation it's a learning opportunity. You learn something new to go onto the next and you know, that kind of spills into the next aside, kind of the opposite end. And you've shared some of these already, but, you know, was it, can you share with us a make or two or something that was really, uh, you know, a big score make on, on a, on an opportunity or a business you started or something you did?

Dennis McKinley - Detroit Equities: 11:54

Yeah, listen, um, you know, we we're at Atlanta, Georgia, it was a bar, you know, possibly marketing before positive market was called, you know, cruel. And I have to work on a long day. I would just go into this bar, you know, that would just have a drink. And I just noticed that Nana's bars operating under capacity. Um, servers stinks, veneer remodel. I said, man, I should just buy this far and just spruce it up. So when I come back, I can, you know, take my friends and I can stop spending a load of cash on know, I did not know. So I came into the bar one day and I said, man, who's the owner of this place. I really, I need to buy this place. And he said, Hey man, the owner is right at the end of the bar. I struck a deal with the owner when I booked crew was doing$35,000 a month in sales. And, um, I told the owner that night, I said, listen, I'm gonna make you offer. I'm gonna come back on Monday and I'm gonna buy this bar from you. She said, well, I was going to set a bar anywhere. So come back Monday, we'll talk. I flew out to New York. I fly to New York, then a party on New York. And I went to this club in New York called greenhouse. And it was just an amazing experience. It was the club. It wasn't a lounge. It was kind of like in the middle. I said, yeah, I'm going to take this idea greenhouse. I'm going to take it back to Atlanta. I'm going to buy that bar. Remodeler came back to metal, Monday, a block of bar for 35 grand 35 grand. I bought the bar for wow. And um, today crew, which we own as well as doing have dollars a year in revenue from 35,000 a month. And we have nine locations committed to three open right now. Charlotte is opening soon. Houston is opening soon. So we took that, just an experience of me just going to the bar. And it was, I was tired of spending my money at other places. Then I turned it into a business. And that was a huge major because you can't buy a blurb for$35,000 anywhere in this country. That's actually operated make castle. I thought that was a, that's a pretty big make there.

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 14:14

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and, and it's a Testament, I think to you, Dennis, and in your vision and being able to see something where you, you see an opportunity and, and other people may have looked at that as it may not. It may have been under performing or may not have been a great customer experience. And you looked at that and said, boy, look at this opportunity here in you, you, you have the vision to look at that and see it. And that's an impressive thing. And, and just something to talk about for our listeners, if they're thinking about reaching out to you or maybe saying, Hey, I wonder if, if, uh, his firm would be interested in investing in my, and I think that's a really good point for anyone who's interested. Who's thinking about this, that McKinley has that vision and can see things that maybe you don't even see in your own business because you're too close, but he can see that and help you get to that next level that you're looking to go to. So I think that's a really, really big takeaway out of that. Um, and, and so on, uh, you know, to jump to the next question here, uh, McKinley, um, you've referenced this a couple of times we talk about a multiplier and something that you use to multiply your success, whether that's personally, professionally, uh, would you mind talking a little bit about that?

Dennis McKinley - Detroit Equities: 15:33

Yeah. Listen, I think, um, track record is very important, right? And I think as entrepreneurs, we look at other entrepreneurs and we try to compare ourselves, right. Um, you know, when it comes to success meter, right. And that's why I love the title of your show, which is called multiply your success. Listen, you gotta add up every small wins every week. Right. Um, and if you add up the small cow every small day at the end of the week at the end of the month, right. And he can do that consistent, you'll be, I think that's very important for entrepreneurs to realize not every deal that you do is going to be a home month that every business that you're involved in is going to make you millions and millions of dollars. Right. We look at CNBC and we look at, you know, some of these other guys and think that, you know, my business is not making moves down here. I'm not successful, but that's not always the case. Right. I think that entrepreneurs need to look vertically and horizontally a billions opportunities and ways to scale their business without actually making billions of dollars a year. And if you think about right, I think you'll get it and you will multiply your success.

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 17:00

I love it. I love it. That's great, great, uh, perspective on that. Uh, and it, and, and Dennis w one of the things we always like to ask as well here is, uh, you know, as a kind of our closing question is what does success mean to you with all of the things you've accomplished in your career? And, and you've got a long runway ahead of you in life and a lot of amazing things happening. So for someone in your position with all of what seems to be all of the success you've had already, what does success mean to you at this state?

Dennis McKinley - Detroit Equities: 17:36

You know, I think at the end of the day, it's about, um, the ability to help other people, right? Um, not only helping people, but, um, your team, your employees, your community, right. You can make all the money in the world, but, um, if you don't do anything to help anybody else, then what's the point I have in any cash. Right. And in a capitalist society, Gribbin cash, of course, is the ultimate measure of success. But, you know, you gotta help. You gotta help you, employees gotta help your community, right. And community is a, um, why range of, you know, what you're involved? It could be civic, it could be political, it could be religious, but those are things that gotta happen. And you gotta do this on a high level, right. If you really want to be called successful, otherwise you're just considered greedy and, um, you know, who wants to be called, right. So, um, I always believe that, um, you know, God helps those who helps themselves, but he also helps other people. Right. And that's really, you know, the model that we live by their franchise genius in my firm, in Detroit equity, um, every franchise partner that we have, every, um, vendor partner we have, we're thankful for. And we do it for our families, for our families, but also fucking me.

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 19:00

I, I that's, uh, I love the way your, your perspective is on that McKinley. It's really, really wonderful at helping others and making a difference. And, um, not only helping yourself, but helping others along the way. And, um, as, as we, uh, as we wrap up here, is there anything you'd like to leave with the listeners too?

Dennis McKinley - Detroit Equities: 19:21

Well, first of all, if, uh, listen, if you are in the business of franchising, you need to really reach out to Tom before his team. Um, these guys are professionals, you know, we, we met a long time ago, Tom, and I've just been super impressed with your professionalism and your team. You know, we talked to franchise guys all day long, and a lot of these guys don't own businesses, so they don't really get it. You know, you, you know, you not only your franchise expert, but you also own this. So that was very important. Uh, we know when we developed our relationship. So, um, I appreciate you bringing me on a Showtime and, you know, um, talking about my achievement, you know, you do it and you're successful, but describe that. So thank you, Tom.

Tom DuFore - Big Sky Franchise Team: 20:14

All right. And that's our interview with Dennis McKinley McKinley. Thank you again for being here and being a guest on the show. You are absolutely fantastic. And let's go ahead and get into our three key takeaways for this episode. Number one, and most important, I think for today is this idea of vision. And Dennis talked about finding the diamonds in the rough, and I think throughout his career, one of the things that's been incredible that I've seen in my time in working with him over the course, the last several years, and, uh, just in, in the success that he has had in his career, he has this vision and ability to see things and find those diamonds in the rough. So as the leader of your organization, what diamonds are you seeing, or maybe not seen that are lying there in the rough, what have you glanced over or, or not seeing that you should maybe it's time. You should take some time to reflect back on that. Number two, be willing to find complimentary partners for your business expansion. Dennis has done a phenomenal job of doing this. I think it's been incredible. He has found partners in every way, shape and form. And most importantly, he really looks for partners that that are complimentary. So if you're considering working with Dennis, if he's more enthusiastic about your business than you are, I that's, that's a problem. That's an issue. He wants you to have the knowledge and the expertise and, and the, uh, fire and passion for the business model. And he brings complimentary skills. So whether it's Dennis or someone else that you're doing business with, who is that person or people that have complimentary skills to you, that can help you grow and get to your business to the next level. And the third takeaway here. And it's just a great reminder that Dennis has great track, record background experience and success here, but it's a good reminder of what he told us. He said for every make that he's had, he's had at least three or four misses. And he said, they've, there have been so many over the years. And it's just a good reminder. You've got to take a lot of shots, uh, to, to, uh, to, you know, to make the baskets or, uh, you know, you in comparing it to baseball. You, you, you strike out or get out more often than you actually get on base. So just some good key takeaways for us. And now it's time for today's win, win. And so today's win. Win is about giving back and more specifically giving back to your community as a successful business owner, entrepreneur, executive, someone who's made it in their life. There is no way you did it by yourself. And you had a community that helped you get there. Don't forget where you came from. Don't forget where you came from, give back and pay it forward, help that next person who's aspiring to have a similar type of career or a business ownership or entrepreneur entrepreneurial journey that they were about to embark on. So help pay it forward. It will help your community. It will be a win for your community. It will be a win for that person or those people that you're helping. And it will be a win for you when you give back, it gives you so much satisfaction. And so that's today's episode. Thanks for tuning in. If you haven't subscribed, please make sure you subscribe. Give us a five star review, and we look forward to having you back next week on the multiply your success podcast.[inaudible].